Exercise 2.3 – Same model, different background.

I have approached this an an archive exercise, inspired by Harry Callahan's images of Eleanor in a variety of landscapes over a period of five years. Many of these pictures appear to be figure-in-landscape rather than portrait images, therefore more 'place' than 'identity' but Eleanor's presence is essential to the images. From my archive I...

Gone Astray

Clare Strand is a conceptual artist who uses photography in her work. Some of her more recent works, such as 'The Happenstance Generator' (2015) and 'The Entropy Pendulum' (2015), explore randomness though the intermediation of mechanical devices acting on photographs. (Brown, 2017) The work that we are directed towards for present study is 'Gone Astray...

Temporary studios – Penn and Avedon

Making portrait photographs in a studio gives the photographer control of background and lighting. However, a permanent studio is expensive and also requires the sitter to travel to a fixed location, which is inconvenient. I suspect that it only really works if money has changed hands: either the sitter has commissioned a studio portrait or...

Exercise 2.4 – Same background, different model

This is a case of a project coming to me, rather going and looking for it (which probably explains why I have done this exercise before 2.3). One of my local Rotary Clubs runs an annual Young Musician competition and was let down at short notice by the photographer who should have produced formal portraits...